Overclocking And Nb Temps

[GaiusMaxwell]

ok, so recently i got water cooling because i couldnt stay stable at 3.0Ghz on my q6600 on my maxorb, i started overclocking and got it to my previous best of 2.9Ghz, the temps were fine but as soon as i kick it up to 3.0Ghz, no matter what i do (voltage increase) it wont POSt properly and it will freeze at my BIOS screen

 

i had no clue what it was so i thought temps, maybe i didnt seat the water block right and i was re-adjusting i literally burnt the side of my hand on my Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4L's NB heatsink, i kept checking back with a fan blowing directly on it and it was still hot to the touch, it is so incredibly hot i can barely keep my finger on any part of the heat sink for longer than half a second

 

i have everest ultimate edition but it cant monitor NB temps, is there a way to check the temps of NB?

 

my 2nd question is, how much of a role does the NB take in overclocking and can an overheating NB cause freezes before windows boots?

 

if not, is there any other reason why i cant get to 3.0 on my q6600?

[ocmooz]

Yes NB temp will hold you back. Use PC Wizard (same folks who make cpu-z made this) to check the temp. It'll be called Processor temp or CPU temp not northbridge. You also might want to try lowering NB voltage. I was having problems hitting 4GHz until I lapped and applied artic silver 5 and a fan to my NB. Before I did that it was hitting 60-65c under load at stock clocking. Now it might hit 58 on a really hot day with OC. I'm not saying that you need to go as far as I did but you must consider the lack of airflow (unless you kept a couple fans) you have now that you're water cooled. You might even want to look at getting an active chipset cooler. All I know is that the goo they use as thermal paste on NB and SB isn't very effective and resembles salt water taffy. If nothing else try a good thermal compound and some airflow, but after you make sure there isn't too much voltage. Good luck.

[GaiusMaxwell]

Yes NB temp will hold you back. Use PC Wizard (same folks who make cpu-z made this) to check the temp. It'll be called Processor temp or CPU temp not northbridge. You also might want to try lowering NB voltage. I was having problems hitting 4GHz until I lapped and applied artic silver 5 and a fan to my NB. Before I did that it was hitting 60-65c under load at stock clocking. Now it might hit 58 on a really hot day with OC. I'm not saying that you need to go as far as I did but you must consider the lack of airflow (unless you kept a couple fans) you have now that you're water cooled. You might even want to look at getting an active chipset cooler. All I know is that the goo they use as thermal paste on NB and SB isn't very effective and resembles salt water taffy. If nothing else try a good thermal compound and some airflow, but after you make sure there isn't too much voltage. Good luck.

 

thanks for the advice, now that i know the NB temps could be the problem i ordered a NB waterblock from swiftech

 

ive got an NZXT tempest so my airflow should be good already, especially since i dont have my radiator mounted in a restricting way because this case is so great for WC setups

[gotdamojo06]

what rad are you using? what are your load temps on the CPU? how many volts are you running through the NB?

[GaiusMaxwell]

what rad are you using? what are your load temps on the CPU? how many volts are you running through the NB?

 

i just upgraded to a black ice eXtreme II, currently, in a 30-34c ambient environment i was 28-30 at idle and 38-40 under full load @ 2.9Ghz

 

I live in australia so most of the days since i got the WC setup it has been between 30 and 35 degrees inside the house

 

im not sure what voltage is running through my NB, i haver never changed it, it is auto controlled i believe